THE 


Supreme  Business 

OF  THE 

Church 


Delivered  Before  the  North  Carolina 
and  Virginia  Christian  Conference 
and  Published  by  Its  Reguest 


By 

PRESIDENT  W.  A.  HARPER 

Elon  Collate,  N.  C. 


THE 


Supreme  Business 

OF  THE 

Chur  eli 


IN  THREE  PARTS 


Delivered  Before  the  North  Carolina 
and  Virginia  Christian  Conference 
and  Published  by  Its  Request 


By 

PRESIDENT  W.  A.  HARPER 

Elon  College,  N.  C. 


Southern  Christian  Publishing  Co..  Elon  College,  N.  C. 


“Foreign  Missions,  therefore,  is  not  a 
side  issue,  the  subject  of  an  occasional 
‘collection’  ; it  is  the  SUPREME 
DUTY  OF  THE  CHURCH,  the 

main  work  of  the  Church.” 

— Arthur  J.  Brown 


PART  I 


God’s  Missionary  Program  for 
His  Church 

WHY? 

Why  should  we  give  money  to  save  the 
heathen  abroad,  when  there  are  heathen  iii 
our  own  eountry  to  save? 

There  are  other  “whys”  equally  logical. 

Why  should  1 give  money  to  save  those  in 
other  parts  of  the  country,  when  there  are 
needy  ones  in  our  own  state? 

Why  should  I give  for  those  in  other  parts 
of  the  state,  when  there  are  needy  ones  in 
my  own  town? 

Why  should  I give  to  the  poor  in  the  town, 
when  my  own  Church  needs  the  money? 

Why  should  I give  to  the  Church,  when  niv 
own  family  wants  it  ? 

Why  should  1 give  to  my  family,  when  I 
want  it  myself? 

Why? — Because  1 am  a Christian:  not  a 
heathen. — A.  P.  Upham. 

In  a great  Laymen's  Missionary  Movement 
Convention,  which  it  was  my  privilege  and 
pleasure  to  attend  some  two  years  since, 
many  motives  were  assigned  for  carrying 
3 


the  Gospel  to  the  non-Christian  world.  The 
idea  of  man’s  brotherhood  was  prominent  in 
many  addresses.  The  demands  of  philan- 
thropy appealed  strongly  to  others.  Even 
the  gains  resulting  to  commerce  were  offered 
as  sufficient  justification  for  the  evangeliza- 
tion of  the  world.  And  in  the  vast  library 
of  missionary  literature  today  coming  from 
the  presses  of  the  great  publishing  houses  all 
these  motives  and  many  others  are  given 
commensurate  elaboration.  But  the  one  cen- 
tral motive  advanced  in  the  great  convention 
to  which  reference  has  been  made  and  in  all 
the  books  that  now  gladden  the  Christian 
world  is  God’s  own  plan  in  the  matter.  This 
viewpoint  is  central,  fundamental,  illuminat- 
ing. To  the  members  of  the  Christian  Church, 
one  of  whose  cardinal  principles  teaches  that 
the  Holy  Bible  is  sufficient  rule  of  faith  and 
practice,  this  motive  should  naturally  make 
a most  powerful  and  convincing  appeal. 

What,  then,  does  the  Bible  teach  is  respect 
to  missions?  Does  God  really  wish  His 
Church  to  be  a missionary  Church?  Has  He 
a missionary  program  for  it?  Let  us  with 
due  reverence  and  humility  open  His  Word 
and  search  for  guidance  in  answering  these 
vital  questions. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  very  first  verse  of 
the  Bible  makes  it  plain  that  God  intends 
His  Church  to  be  a missionary  body.  “In 
the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and 
the  earth’’  (Gen.  1:1).  Why  did  God  create 
the  heaven  and  the  earth?  It  was  that  lie 
might  glorify  Himself  in  this  act  and  reveal 

4 


His  fatherly  care  for  all  His  creatures — not 
a part  of  them. 

The  petty  nations  surrounding  the  He- 
brews had  tribal  Gods.  All  the  great  nations 
of  antiquity  had  gods — but  they  had  grown 
from  tribal  to  national  gods,  and  were  inter- 
ested in  their  own  subjects  only,  a sufficient 
explanation  this  of  the  policy  of  extermina- 
tion practiced  by  every  nation  of  antiquity 
that  undertook  to  influence  the  current  of 
world  events.  But  here  is  a Deity  who  claims 
to  have  created  all  things — both  heaven  and 
earth.  He  is  universal  Sovereign  and  it  is 
His  will  that  all  men  should  serve  Him  and 
acknowledge  Him  as  King.  But  how? 

We  get  light  on  God’s  method  of  winning 
the  nations  to  Himself  in  the  call  of  Abra- 
ham. Here  are  the  words,  simple  in  their 
grandeur,  potentous  in  their  import,  world- 
wide, eternity-wide  in  their  scope  and  em- 
brace, in  which  this  first  direct  unfolding  of 
God’s  plan  for  His  Church  is  stated:  “Now 

the  Lord  had  said  unto  Abram,  get  thee  out 
of  thy  country,  and  from  thy  kindred,  and 
from  thy  father’s  house,  unto  a land  that 
1 will  show  thee:  and  I will  make  of  thee  a 
great  nation,  and  I will  bless  thee,  and  make 
thy  name  great,  and  thou  shalt  be  a blessing: 
and  I will  bless  them  that  bless  thee,  and 
curse  him  that  eurseth  thee,  and  in  thee  shall 
all  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed.”  (Gen. 
12:1-3.)  In  this  passage  we  see  not  only 
Abraham’s  faith,  but  God’s  design  for  the 
nations.  He  calls  Abraham,  not  that  He 
may  bless  and  prosper  him  and  make  him 
great  as  an  end,  but  as  a means  to  a grander 
5 


eml,  the  blessing  of  all  the  families  of  the 
earth.  And  Abraham  is  called  the  father  of 
the  faithful,  not  because  he  left  his  father's 
house  at  God's  call  to  go  to  a strange  land 
— that  was  being  done  by  all  Bedouin  chief- 
tains of  his  day  without  any  divine  call,  but 
because  he  believed  that  God  through  him 
would  bless  all  the  families  of  the  earth. 
Through  this  great  man  of  faith,  the  first 
man  chosen  to  shadow  forth  to  us  God’s 
missionary  program  for  His  children,  we 
have  been  blessed.  Is  it  God’s  will  that  the 
blessing  should  cease  with  us? 

The  very  name  that  God  gives  himself 
when  he  calls  Moses  from  Midian  to  lead 
His  people  from  Egypt  plainly  indicates  that 
He  is  no  tribal  or  national  Deity,  but  the 
only  true  God,  and,  if  the  only  true  God, 
then  the  God  of  all  nations  and  of  each  indi- 
vidual human  being,  and  that  His  Will  will 
never  be  accomplished  in  the  world  till  at 
His  name  every  knee  shall  bow.  “I  am  that 
I am,”  said  God  to  Moses,  and  you  shall 
say  that  “I  Am  hath  sent  me.”  Moses  could 
never  after  that  think  of  Jehovah  as  other 
than  the  God  of  the  universe,  and  of  the 
Israelites  as  the  chosen  race  through  whom 
He  would  reveal  Himself  to  the  world. 

When  the  law  was  given  by  the  Lord  to 
Moses  at  Sinai,  God  not  only  gives  definite 
statement  to  His  sovereignty  over  the  He- 
brew race  in  the  first  four  commandments, 
but  makes  it  perfectly  plain  that  these  com- 
mandments applied  as  much  to  other  nations 
as  to  the  Hebrew,  when  he  forbids  Sabbath 
desecration  to  the  ‘‘stranger  that  is  within 
6 


thy  gates,”  for  these  strangers  were  those 
of  other  nations  intermingling  with  the  Ho- 
brews.  If  the  law  was  intended  for  the 
nations,  surely  God  wished  the  nations  to  be 
won  to  obedience  to  this  law.  It  was  as 
difficult,  however,  for  the  Jews  to  understand 
their  duty  in  this  direction  as  it  is  for  many 
Christians  today  to  give  for  the  extension 
of  the  Kingdom. 

Soon  after  Sinai  was  passed  au  in- 
stance of  racial  bigotry  had  to  be  severe- 
ly rebuked  by  God.  Miriam  and  Aaron 
became  jealous  of  Moses  and  his  Cushite 
wife.  Why  should  a Cushite  woman  have 
chief  place  in  their  social  and  religious  life? 
So  they  complained.  The  Lord  made  Miriam 
a leper  for  this  narrowness  of  heart.  His 
Kingdom  was  wide  enough  for  Israelite  and 
Cushite  and  for  all  the  nations  besides. 
What  is  the  book  of  Jonah,  but  God’s  Spirit 
teaching  the  bigoted  Jews  that  His  Kingdom 
is  wider  than  their  nation?  How  tender  in 
its  sentiment  of  all-embracing  love  is  the 
conclusion  of  that  book:  ‘‘And  should  not 

I spare  Nineveh,  that  great  city,  wherein  are 
more  than  six  score  thousand  persons  that 
can  not  discern  between  their  right  hand  and 
their  left  hand  and  also  many  cattle?” 
(Jonah  4:11).  Surely  a God  who  is  solic- 
itous for  the  welfare  of  cattle  cares  for  the 
immortal  souls  of  the  heathen  world.  Shall 
God  have  to  afflict  us,  as  He  did  Jonah,  to 
induce  us  to  do  His  will,  and  will  we  be 
sullen  when  the  heathen  show  signs  of  ac- 
cepting the  Gospel  because  it  will  impose 
on  us  larger  burdens  to  send  it  to  them  as 
Jonah  did?  God  forbid! 


The  book  of  Ruth  is  a missionary  book 
through  and  through.  The  Moabites  were  a 
race  whose  corruption  was  so  great  as  to 
merit  annihilation  and  the  commission  had 
been  given  the  Jews  to  exterminate  them. 
Yet  out  of  this  hated  and  sentenced  race 
God  calls  this  beautiful  character  and  be- 
cause of  her  sincerity  of  heart  and  purpose 
she  is  worthy  to  become  the  ancestor  of  His 
own  Son.  How  tender  her  words  to  Naomi 
when  given  permission  to  return  to  her  own 
people:  “Entreat  me  not  to  leave  thee,  or 
to  return  from  following  after  thee:  for 

whither  thou  goest,  I will  go;  and  where 
thou  lodgest,  I will  lodge;  thy  people  shall 
be  my  people,  and  thy  God  my  God."  (Ruth 
1:16.)  God  could  not  refuse  the  privileges 
of  His  Kingdom  to  a convert  as  genuine  as 
that,  nor  did  the  Hebrews.  And  from  her 
exaltation  among  her  adopted  race,  the  chos- 
en race,  that  chosen  race  learned  that  God 
accepts  all  those  who  seek  Him  from  right 
motives,  whether  Israel  or  Moabite  or  Cush- 
ite or  what  not. 

The  prophets,  both  major  and  minor,  are 
a unit  in  voicing  the  universality  of  Jeho- 
vah’s Kingdom  and  the  duty  of  the  chosen 
race  to  give  all  men  a part  in  it.  Isaiah  could 
not  conceive  of  God  as  limited  to  his  race. 
II is  Gospel  is  world-wide.  “Look  unto  me," 
we  find  him  preaching,  “and  be  ye  saved,  all 
the  ends  of  the  earth;  for  1 am  God,  and 
there  is  none  else."  (Isa.  45:22.)  Jeremiah’s 
message  is  to  the  whole  earth:  “O  Earth, 
Earth,  Earth,  hear  the  word  of  Jehovah." 
(Jer.  22:29.)  Micah  preaches  of  that  glad 
8 


•lav  when  the  Lord’s  name  shall  be  estab- 
lished on  the  mountain  top,  when  all  nations 
shall  flow  to  it,  and  when  “He  will  judge 
between  many  peoples,  and  will  decide  con- 
cerning strong  nations  afar  off ; and  they 
shall  beat  their  swords  into  plowshares,  and 
their  spears  into  pruning-liooks;  nation  shall 
not  lift  up  sword  against  nation,  neither 
shall  they  learn  war  any  more.”  (Mic.  4:3.) 
Habakkuk,  with  prophetic  vision,  sees  the 
spread  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  till  “the 
earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of 
the  glory  of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover 
the  sea,”  (Habakkuk  2:14),  and  Zechariah 
saw  the  same  grand  triumph  of  His  domin- 
ion. Malachi  takes  up  the  refrain  and  fore- 
tells Kis  greatenss  among  the  Gentiles:  “For 
from  the  rising  of  the  sun  even  unto  the 
going  down  of  the  same  my  name  shall  be 
great  among  the  Gentiles;  and  in  every  place 
incense  shall  be  offered  unto  my  name,  and 
a pure  offering;  for  my  name  shall  be  great 
among  the  heathen,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts.” 
(Mai.  1:11.) 

The  Psalms,  too,  bear  unmistakable  testi- 
mony to  the  missionary  teaching  of  the  Old 
Testament.  When  people  sing  missions,  you 
may  be  sure  they  believe  in  missions — for 
in  our  songs  are  found  only  the  sincere  as- 
pirations of  the  soul.  “God  be  merciful  un- 
to us,  and  bless  us,  and  cause  His  face  to 
shine  upon  us,  that  Thy  way  may  be  known 
upon  the  earth,  Thy  salvation  among  the 
nations.”  (Psa.  67:1-2.)  The  people  who 
could  sing  that  sentiment  and  the  hundred 
9 


other  psalms  breathing  the  same  spirit,  could 
not  b'e  other  than  missionary.  And  while 
there  were  always  narrow  Jews,  just  as  today 
there  are  narrow  Christians,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  on  the  part  of  any  student  of  his- 
tory that  in  the  century  preceding  and  in 
that  following  the  Advent,  the  Jews  were 
the  greatest  missionaries  under  the  sun. 
Proselytes,  their  enemies  called  them,  but 
they  were  bent  on  making  Jehovah  known 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  as  their  great 
preachers  and  prophets  had  declared  it  His 
will  that  they  should  do.  When  Christianity 
toward  the  end  of  the  first  century  of  our 
era  had  shown  a power  of  winning  the 
hearts  of  men  that  pure  Judaism  could  not 
equal,  they  called  in  their  missionaries  and 
assumed  the  position  of  the  chosen  people, 
which  they  have  retained  until  this  day.  Are 
we  to  infer  that  God  took  from  them  the 
leadership  of  the  religious  forces  of  the 
world  because  they  ceased  to  give  to  others 
the  light  they  had?  Or  was  it  the  will  of 
God  that  they  who  had  rejected  His  Son 
should  also  be  prohibited  from  propagating 
a partial  revelation  of  the  plan  of  salvation? 
Be  these  matters  as  they  may,  we  cannot 
doubt  that  the  entire  spirit  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament is  missionary,  for  we  see  it  in  the 
universal  creatorship  of  God  announced  in 
its  opening  words,  in  the  name  which  He 
takes  for  Himself  showing  that  He  is  all  in 
all,  in  the  law  given  at  Sinai,  in  the  Psalms 
and  Prophets,  in  the  books  of  Jonah  and 
Ruth  designed  to  transform  Pharisees  into 
missionaries,  as  well  as  in  those  inspiring 
10 


words  spoken  to  the  father  of  his  race.  “And 
in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth 
be  blessed.  ’ ’ 

The  missionary  teaching  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament has  thus  been  set  forth  at  length 
that  it  may  be  clearly  seen  that  God  in  His 
Son  Jesus  Christ  fulfilled  His  original  design 
for  the  nations  and  that  in  this  respect  as 
in  all  others  the  Savior  but  fulfilled  the  Old 
Testament.  It  is  generally  conceded  that 
Christ  willed  that  the  Gospel  should  be 
preached  to  all  nations,  but  an  examination 
of  the  specific  teachings  of  the  New  Testa 
ment  on  this  point  can  but  strengthen  our 
faith  in  God’s  missionary  program  for  us 
and  so  let  us  briefly  inquire  into  it. 

The  connecting  link  between  the  old  and 
new  dispensations  is  found  in  the  book  of 
Hebrews.  The  missionary  teaching  of  this 
book  is  evident.  We  read:  “God,  having 
of  old  time  spoken  unto  the  fathers  in  the 
prophets  by  divers  portions  and  in  divers 
manners,  hath  at  the  end  of  these  days  spok- 
en unto  us  in  His  Son.  whom  He  appointed 
heir  of  all  things,  through  whom  also  He 
made  the  worlds.’’  (Heb.  1:1-2.)  The  Son 
who  made  the  world  could  not  be  just  and 
wish  Himself  revealed  to  only  a part  of  its 
inhabitants.  And  again  we  read  in  this 
book:  “Since  then  the  children  are  sharers 
in  flesh  and  blood,  He  also  Himself  in  like 
manner  partook  of  the  same;  that  through 
death  He  might  bring  to  naught  him  that 
had  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil; 
and  might  deliver  all  them  who  through  fear 
of  death  were  all  their  lifetime  subject  to 


11 


bondage.”  (Heb.  2:14-15.)  Since  all  men 
of  every  nation  are  ‘‘sharers  in  flesh  and 
blood”  and  fear  death,  Christ  came  to  de- 
liver every  man  of  every  nation  under  heav- 
en. The  writer  of  this  book  in  chapter  seven 
shows  that  the  priesthood  existed  and  was 
ordained  of  the  Most  High  God  before  the 
existence  of  the  Hebrew  race,  and  that  Christ 
was  priest  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek 
and  so  a priest  to  all  men.  And  to  make 
it  perfectly  plain  that  all  who  have  faith 
in  God  and  His  Son  are  to  be  saved  of  every 
nation,  a Gentile,  Raliab,  is  included  in  the 
roll-call  of  the  faithful  given  in  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  this  book.  If  Hebrews  were  the 
only  book  left  us  of  the  New  Testament  rec- 
ord, we  should  still  be  sure  that  Jesus  Christ 
came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was 
lost  in  every  nation. 

The  principal  writers  of  epistles  in  the 
New  Testament  are  Paul,  John  and  Peter. 
All  of  these  were  strict  Jews;  yet  their  mes- 
sage is  a mighty  chorus  calling  to  mission- 
ary effort.  Peter  preached  his  great  pente- 
costal  sermon,  offering  salvation  through  re- 
pentance and  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  to  ‘‘Par- 
thians,  and  Medes,  and  Elamites,  and  the 
dwellers  in  Mesopotamia  and  in  Judaea,  and 
Cappadocia,  in  Pontus,  and  Asia,  Phrygia, 
and  Pamphylia,  in  Egypt  and  in  the  parts  of 
Libya  about  Cyrene,  and  strangers  of  Rome, 
Jews  and  Proselytes,  Cretes  and  Arabians.” 
(Acts  2:9-11.)  And  it  was  he  who  after 
the  memorable  housetop  vision  and  the  won- 
derful meeting  in  the  home  of  Cornelius  de- 
clared: ‘‘Of  a truth  I perceive  that  God  is 
12 


no  respecter  of  persons;  but  in  every  nation 
lie  that  feareth  Him  and  worketh  righteous- 
ness is  accepted  of  Him.’’  (Acts  10:34-35.) 

Paul,  a Pharisee  of  the  Pharisees,  believing 
most  ardently  in  the  bigoted  view  of  the 
chosen  race,  this  Paul  becomes  the  greatest 
missionary  to  the  Gentiles  that  the  world 
has  yet  seen.  Hear  him  as  he  sums  up  God’s 
missionary  program  for  the  world,  in  his 
matchless  sermon  delivered  on  Mars  Hill: 
“God  that  made  the  world  and  all  things 
therein,  seeing  that  He  is  Lord  of  heaven 
and  earth,  dwelleth  not  in  temples  made  with 
hands,  neither  is  worshipped  with  men's 
hands,  as  though  He  needed  anything,  seeing 
He  giveth  to  all  life,  aud  breath,  and  all 
things;  and  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  na- 
tions of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of 
the  earth,  and  both  determined  the  times 
before  appointed,  and  the  bounds  of  their 
habitation:  that  they  should  seek  the  Lord, 
if  haply  they  might  feel  after  Him,  though 
He  be  not  far  from  every  one  of  us;  for  in 
Him  we  live,  aud  move,  and  have  our  being; 
as  certain  also  of  your  own  poets  have  said, 
For  we  are  also  his  offspring.  Forasmuch 
then  as  we  are  the  offspring  of  God,  we  ought 
not  to  think  that  the  Godhead  is  like  unto 
gold  or  silver,  or  stone,  graven  by  art  and 
man ’s  device.  And  the  times  of  this  ignor- 
ance God  winked  at,  but  now  commandeth 
all  men  everywhere  to  repent:  because  He 
hath  appointed  a day,  in  the  which  He  will 
judge  the  world  in  righteousness  by  that  man 
whom  He  hath  ordained:  whereof  He  hath 
given  assurance  unto  all  men,  in  that  He  hath 
13 


raised  Him  from  the  dead.”  (Acts  17:24-31.) 
Do  you  wonder  that  a preacher  who  believed 
that  all  men  are  of  one  blood,  made  so  by 
God  whose  offspring  they  are,  and  that  God 
commands  all  men  to  repent  against  His 
judgment  day  for  the  whole  world,  do  you 
wonder  that  a preacher  holding  these  articles 
of  faith  could  be  other  than  a missionary? 

And  what  of  John,  that  son  of  thunder,  who 
was  anxious  for  a large  place  in  God ’s  King- 
dom, who  would  forbid  a disciple  to  cast 
out  demons  because  he  did  not  flock  with  his 
own  section  of  the  Master’s  followers,  who 
was  willing  to  call  down  fire  from  heaven 
on  Samaritans  who  did  not  desire  Christ  to 
enter  their  village,  what  of  him,  bigoted, 
narrow  Pharisee,  high  churchman  that  he 
was?  Turn  to  the  Revelation,  where  after 
fifty  years  of  service  and  suffering  for  his 
Master,  we  find  him  writing:  “Thou  art 
worthy  to  take  the  book,  and  to  open  the 
seals  thereof:  for  Thou  wast  slain,  and  hast 
redeemed  us  to  God  by  Thy  blood  out  of 
every  kindred,  and  tongue  and  people  and 
nation.”  (Rev.  5:9.)  And  again,  “And  the 
spirit  and  the  bride  say  come.  And  let  him 
that  heareth  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that 
is  athirst,  say  Come.  And  whosoever  will, 
let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely.”  (Rev. 
22:17.)  No  bigoted,  narrow,  selfish  Jew  now, 
but  a man  of  catholicity  of  life  and  heart 
and  a missionary  aflame  with  love  for  the 
entire  world! 

But  more  than  anywhere  else  do  we  see 
the  missionary  teaching  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment in  our  Master  Himself.  He  Who  came 


14 


from  the  portals  of  glory  and  took  upon 
Himself  the  form  of  man,  who  had  not  where 
to  lay  his  head,  Whose  entire  life  was  devot- 
ed to  doing  good, — all,  that  you  and  I should 
enjoy  the  peace  of  God  that  passeth  all  un- 
derstanding, surely  the  force  of  His  example 
and  gratitude  for  His  unspeakable  benefit 
to  our  souls  would  compel  us  never  to  rest 
till  His  name  and  His  salvation  should  be 
as  freely  given  to  all  the  world  as  it  has 
been  given  to  us.  But  He  did  not  leave  us 
the  silent  teaching  of  His  example  only — 
He  wished  that  there  should  be  no  doubt 
about  His  mission  to  men.  In  the  conversa- 
tion with  Nicodemus  He  had  said:  “For  God 
so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in 
Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life.  For  God  sent  not  His  Son  into  the 
world  to  condemn  the  world;  but  that  the 
world  through  Him  might  be  saved.’’  (John 
3:16-17.)  And  when  He,  at  His  disciples’ 
request,  taught  them  to  pray,  did  He  not 
therein  reveal  to  them  the  brotherhood  of 
man  and  God’s  fatherhood,  when  they  were 
instructed  to  address  God  as  “Our  Father”? 
And  how  could  they  pray,  how  can  we  today 
pray,  ‘ ‘ Thy  Kingdom  come,  Thy  will  be 
done,  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,”  without 
believing  in  and  practicing  missions?  Sure- 
ly if  His  followers  denied  the  force  of  His 
life  and  example,  they  could  not  deny  the 
binding  duty  of  His  positive  statement.  But 
the  Master  would  not  leave  a single  possibil- 
ity for  misunderstanding,  and  so  He  gives 
His  disciples  and  through  them  us  that  mem- 
15 


orable  commandment  to  which  reverent  men 
have  reverently  given  the  title  of  the  great 
commission.  Hear  Him,  as  He  takes  His  de- 
parture from  them  in  visible  form,  say  to 
them:  “All  power  is  given  unto  Me  in  heav- 
en and  in  earth.  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach 
all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of 
the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost;  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things 
whatsoever  I have  commanded  you:  and,  lo, 
I am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of 
the  world.  Amen.’’  (Matt.  28:17-20.) 

Men  and  brethren,  if  we  do  not  obey  His 
command  to  teach  the  nations,  all  of  them, 
His  will  concerning  them,  how  can  we  claim 
a part  in  His  sweet  invitation,  “Come  unto 
me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  1 will  give  you  rest.”  (Matt.  11:28.) 
Can  we  rightly  claim  a part  in  His  precious 
promises  to  the  Saints,  when  we  deliberately 
refuse  to  do  His  will?  Can  Christians  who 
will  not  or  do  not  undertake  God’s  mission- 
ary program  for  His  Church  have  the  heart 
to  expect  of  God  the  blessings  designed  for 
those  who  know  His  will  and  do  it?  Let  us 
pray. 

Our  Father,  Who  art  in  heaven,  help  us. 
Thy  children,  creatures  of  Thy  hand,  to  trust 
Thee  and  Thy  Son,  Whom  Thou  didst  send 
to  save  the  world  to  Thyself,  and  to  use 
the  power  He  did  promise  us  to  make  known 
Thy  matchless  love  to  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth.  Give  us  the  spirit  of  the  Cross, 
which  is  the  spirit  of  missions,  and  prosper 
Thou  our  poor  efforts  on  behalf  of  our  fel- 
l(i 


lows  ami  hasten  the  day  when  every  knee 
shall  bow  at  the  utterance  of  Thy  name  and 
every  tongue  shall  praise  Thee  for  salvation 
and  everlasting  life.  And  ever  may  the  con- 
sciousness that  unto  us  Thou  hast  entrusted 
this  great  work  and  at  our  hands  dost  require 
it,  thrill  us  to  undertake  this  duty  and  to 
faint  not,  knowing  that  a greater  joy  than 
we  now  know  will  come  into  our  own  hearts. 
Amen. 


17 


PART  II 


An  Adequate  Missionary  Policy 
In  the  Church 


The  goal  of  history  is  the  redemption  of 
the  world.  Christians  have  believed  it  for 
nearly  twenty  centuries.  They  have  not  only 
believed  it,  they  have  sacrificed  for  it,  many 
of  them.  Yet  with  all  power  in  heaven  and 
earth  promised  them  in  its  prosecution,  they 
have  not  succeeded  in  these  twenty  centuries 
in  winning  to  the  banner  of  the  Cross,  more 
than  six  hundred  million  persons,  Protestant, 
Greek  and  Catholic  communions  combined. 
There  are  at  least  a thousand  million  souls 
who,  after  two  millenniums  of  Christian  ef- 
fort, have  never  heard  the  Gospel  story. 
Itn’t  it  a shame? 

Yes,  it  is  a shame,  but  it  is  a shame  of 
such  nature  that  we  do  not  need' to  hang  our 
poor  heads  in  discouragement,  but  to  put 
forth  every  effort  to  remove  its  stigma. 

It  is  not  a debatable  question  as  to  wheth- 
er we  should  undertake  this  unfinished  task. 
Our  marching  orders  are  plain  and  unmis- 
takable. Christ  commissioned  us  to  the  task 
and  we  cannot  refuse  it  or  postpone  it  and 
be  loyal  to  Him.  A Christian  is  a mission- 
ary or  he  is  not  a Christian  at  all,  and  Chris- 
18 


tians  generally  recognize  this.  The  trouble 
with  the  Church  in  its  missionary  activities 
has  been,  not  its  unwillingness,  but  its  lack 
of  an  adequate  missionary  policy. 

The  flood  of  missionary  literature  now  is 
suing  from  our  presses,  the  almost  innumer- 
able missionary  conventions  held  in  all  parts 
of  the  world,  and  Christian  leaders  generally 
have  been  devoted  in  recent  years  to  the 
working  out  of  such  a policy.  To  undertake 
in  brief  space  to  set  forth  all  the  methods 
that  have  been  and  are  being  emphasized 
in  the  practical  application  of  the  now  gen- 
erally accepted  policy  would  be  to  undertake 
the  impossible,  but  it  is  not  impossible  even 
in  brief  compass  to  state  the  cardinal  or 
basic  principles  of  this  policy,  leaving  the 
consecrated  common  sense  of  the  individual 
workers  in  the  churches  to  make  the  appli- 
cation to  local  conditions. 

These  principles,  constituting  what  may 
be  regarded  as  an  adequate  missionary  policy 
for  the  Church,  are  five  in  number  and  are 
all  worthy  the  prayerful  study  of  every  for- 
ward-looking Christian,  whether  minister  or 
layman. 

(A)  Missionary  Education 

It  goes  without  saying  that  we  cannot  be 
interested  in  what  we  are  ignorant  of.  The 
first  condition  of  interest  is  knowledge,  ac- 
quaintance with  the  facts.  And  this  infor- 
mation should  be  all-inclusive.  By  this  is 
meant  that  it  should  include  a knowledge 
of  what  the  Bible  teaches  in  regard  to  the 
missionary  obligation  and  then  a knowledge 
19 


of  the  work  in  the  mission  fields  today — ac- 
quaintance with  what  has  been  called  the 
Modern  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  I know  no 
surer  method  of  developing  an  abiding  inter- 
est in  missions  than  for  the  Christian  to 
study  the  needs  of  foreign  lands  and  what 
is  actually  being  done  to  meet  those  needs, 
and  the  literature  bearing  on  the  subject  is 
enormous,  and  increasing.  To  mention  only 
one  source  of  information,  the  eight  volume 
report  of  the  great  Edinburgh,  1910,  Con- 
vention, will  turn  any  doubter  into  a zealot 
for  the  Cause. 

The  local  Church  should  not  onlj'  believe 
in  the  necessity  of  missionary  education,  but 
should  diligently  institute  a system  that  will 
insure  it.  Every  organization  of  the  Church 
should  be  included  in  the  system.  The  Sun- 
day-school should  be  made  an  effective  sem- 
inary of  missionary  need,  and  can  be  by 
adopting  in  it  the  plans  and  methods  set 
forth  in  such  books  as  Hixson’s  Missions  in 
the  Sunday  School  and  Trull’s  Missionary 
Methods  for  Sunday  School  Workers.  This 
instruction  should  be  systematically  and  in- 
telligently planned  for  all  the  grades  and  de- 
partments, so  that  by  the  time  a pupil 
reaches  the  age  of  manhood  he  will  be  a 
missionary  devotee.  We  have  not  paid  enough 
attention  to  training  up  our  children  to  be 
misionary  in  sentiment  and  practice.  Let  us 
learn  a lesson  from  the  great  temperance 
wave  now  so  wonderfully  sweeping  over  our 
country.  How  does  it  come  about  that  we 
are  witnessing  these  glorious  changes?  The 
explanation  is  found  in  the  fact  that  a gen- 
20 


eration  ago  we  began  studying  ouce  each 
quarter  in  our  Sunday-schools  the  great  ques- 
tion of  temperance.  It  will  be  equally  so 
with  respect  to  missions. 

Rut  this  will  necessitate  teachers  trained 
to  teach  missions,  which  in  turn  suggests  the 
mission  study  class  wherein  such  preparation 
may  be  had.  It  will  not  do  to  say  that  the 
teachers  will  not  take  such  a course.  They 
have  done  it  elsewhere  and  they  will  do  it 
in  your  Sunday-school  if  it  is  goue  at  prop- 
erly. There  are  numbers  of  pamphlets  and 
books,  which  the  mission  board  will  procure 
for  anyone  desiring,  which  set  forth  fully 
how  to  proceed  in  this  work.  You  can  never 
do  your  full  duty  till  you  have  examined  this 
literature  and  applied  its  suggestions. 

The  Christian  Eudeavor  Society,  of  all 
grades,  should  be  and  can  be  made  an  effec- 
tive and  efficient  medium  of  missionary  prop- 
agation. Its  missionary  committee  can  be 
utilized  for  a wonderful  awakening  of  mis- 
sionary interest,  and  its  missionary  prayer- 
meetings  offer  a rare  opportunity  for  dissem- 
inating information  and  quickening  zeal  for 
the  cause. 

There  should  certainly  be  a Women’s  Mis- 
sionary Society  and  it  should  meet,  not  sim- 
ply to  pay  the  monthly  dues,  but  also  to 
study  the  mission  question  in  all  its  aspects. 
Likewise  there  should  be  a Laymen ’s  Mis- 
sionary Movement  Committee  for  the  men, 
of  which  more  will  be  said  later. 

The  pastor,  of  course,  will  be  superlatively 
missionary  and  will  preach  missionary  ser- 
mons and  use  missionary  illustrations  in  his 
21 


other  sermons  just  because  he  is  so  full  of 
missions  that  he  cannot  keep  from  it.  Too 
many  preachers  are  afraid  to  talk  missions, 
fearing  their  members  will  be  offended  or 
their  salaries  will  be  cut  short.  Which  is 
better,  to  offend  a few  moss-back  Church  dig- 
nitaries and  lose  a little  salary,  or  to  offend 
the  great  Captain  of  our  Salvation  and  lose 
your  own  soul?  But  it  isn’t  necessary  to 
choose  between  these  alternatives,  because 
the  best  loved  and  best  paid  ministers  aro 
those  who  preach  missions  and  insist  that 
their  members  do  their  full  duty. 

There  should  also  be  provision  for  public 
exercises  participated  in  by  the  Church  mem- 
bership— a Laymen’s  Rally  Day,  a Women’s 
Missionary  Evening,  a Children’s  Missionary 
Exercise,  and  many  others.  Speakers  from 
other  Churches  and  especially  returned  mis- 
sionaries should  be  heard  occasionally — all 
as  a part  of  a thoroughly  organized  and 
specially  planned  missionary  educational  pol- 
icy. Such  a policy  in  thorough  working  order 
over  many  years  will  generate  such  enthus- 
iasm for  the  world’s  evangelization  as  we 
cannot  now  conceive  of. 

(B)  A Sense  of  Stewardship 

David  Livingstone  said,  “J  will  place  no 
value  on  anything  1 have  or  may  possess, 
except  in  its  relation  to  the  Kingdom  of 
Jesus  Christ.”  This  great  missionary  had 
mastered  the  principle  of  stewardship  so 
prominent  in  all  the  Scriptures.  God’s  own- 
ership of  all  material  things  is  taught 
throughout  the  Bible.  He  is  absolutely  pro- 
22 


prietor.  In  the  opening  chapter  of  Genesis 
it  is  clear  that  all  things  are  God’s  by  cre- 
ation. Abraham  recognized  it  when  he  de- 
scribed God  as  the  “possessor  of  heaven  and 
earth.”  (Gen.  14:22.)  The  writer  in  Chron- 
icles declares  that  “all  that  is  in  the  heaven 
and  earth  is  thine;  thine  is  the  Kingdom,  O 
Lord.”  (1  Chron.  29:11.)  David  sings,  “The 
earth  is  the  Lord’s  and'the  fullness  thereof.” 
(Psa.  24:1.)  And  again,  “For  every  beast 
of  the  forest  is  mine,  and  the  cattle  upon  a 
thousand  hills.”  (Psa.  50:10.)  And  Haggai 
declares:  “The  silver  is  mine  and  the  gold 
is  mine,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  ” (Hag.  2: 
8.)  These  and  many  other  passages  leave 
no  shadow  of  uncertainty  as  to  the  real  own- 
ership of  wealth.  God  is  owner.  Men  are 
His  trustees,  His  stewards.  As  between  man 
and  man,  we  may  say  that  a man  owns,  but 
not  with  reference  to  God — it  is  all  His. 

But  God’s  ownership  applies  to  more  than 
property.  He  owns  man  himself,  not  merely 
his  soul,  but  his  hands  and  his  feet  and  his 
tongue  and  his  heart  as  well.  This  is  a 
legitimate  inference  from  His  having  cre- 
ated us,  but  many  passages  specifically  state 
it,  as:  “What!  know  ye  not  that  your  body 
is  a temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  in 
you,  which  ye  have  of  God,  and  ye  are  not 
your  own?  For  ye  are  bought  with  a price; 
therefore  glorify  God  in  your  body,  and  in 
your  spirit,  which  are  God’s.”  (1  Cor.  6: 
19-20.)  If  God  owns  us,  body  and  spirit, 
surely  He  owns  all  that  our  body  and  spirit 
produce. 

But  the  Christian  stewardship  involves 
23 


more  than  material  things  and  what  we  our- 
selves can  produce.  Paul  says,  ‘ ‘ A steward- 
ship of  the  Gospel  is  committed  unto  me.” 
(1  Cor.  9:17.)  And  if  to  Paul,  then  to  you 
and  to  me.  Peter  declared  that  every  Chris- 
tian is  a ‘‘steward  of  the  manifold  grace  of 
God.”  (1  Peter  4:10.)  It  is  a much  more 
serious  thing  to  be  a steward  of  the  Gospel 
and  of  the  manifold  grace  of  God  than  of  a 
million  dollars. 

But  what  does  Christian  stewardship  in- 
volve? We  know  that  God  owns  the  uni- 
verse, that  it  is  rightly  His.  We  know  that 
we  ourselves  are  Ilis  by  creation  and  by 
redemption.-  But  what  does  that  ownership 
of  His  involve  for  us?  It  involves  first  of 
all  faithfulness.  ‘ ‘ Moreover,  it  is  required 
in  stewards,  that  a man  be  found  faithful.” 
(1  Cor.  4:2.)  If  we  are  faithful  in  the  dis- 
charge of  our  stewardship,  we  will  make 
proper  use  of  our  Lord’s  possessions.  We 
will  realize  that  we  are  tenants  at  His  will 
and  put  forth  every  effort  possible  to  return 
His  own  to  Him  with  increase  through  faith- 
ful occupancy.  We  will  also  be  glad  to  ren- 
der account  to  (Him  when  we  shall  come  to 
the  end  of  our  stewardship,  and  will  not  fear, 
because  the  consciousness  of  duty  well  done 
will  cast  out  fear.  The  Christian  world  needs 
to  understand  the  tremendous  meaning  of 
its  stewardship.  It  is  freighted  with  eternal 
consequences  and  in  it  are  the  issues  of  life 
— even  of  the  Christian  life.  We  read  in 
the  early  chapters  of  the  Word  of  Abraham’s 
steward  and  find  it  said  of  him,  ‘‘All  the 
goods  of  his  Master  were  in  his  hands.” 
24 


(Gen.  24:10.)  It  is  even  so  with  us  today. 
All  the  goods  of  our  Master  are  in  our  hands. 
Jesus  Christ  alone  can  save  the  world,  but 
He  cannot  save  the  world  alone.  May  God 
help  us  to  help  Him  do  His  religious  work 
and  may  such  a sense  of  the  duty  of  Chris- 
tian stewardship  possess  us  and  incite  us 
to  action  as  that  we  shall  receive  His  com- 
mendation in  the  final  hour  of  accountability 
before  the  great  white  throne! 

But  how  shall  we  get  this  sense  of  Chris- 
tian stewardship?  By  a program  of  educa- 
tion similar  to  that  suggested  for  the  incul- 
cation of  missionary  information.  Shall  we 
enter  upon  such  a program? 

(C)  The  Practice  of  Scriptural  Giving 

There  will  be  no  doubt  or  hesitation  about 
the  matter  of  the  practice  of  Scriptural  giv- 
ing, if  Christians  realize  their  stewardship 
relation  to  God.  Stewardship  includes  giv- 
ing, but  is  much  more  comprehensive  than 
giving.  Some  Christians  feel  that  their  duty 
is  done  when  they  give  to  the  church  and 
its  enterprises,  but  this  is  not  the  teaching 
of  the  Scriptures.  We  are  to  give  our  money, 
to  be  sure,  but  first  we  are  to  give  ourselves. 
We  need  the  spirit  of  William  Carey,  who 
declared  that  his  business  was  serving  the 
Lord,  but  he  cobbled  shoes  for  a living.  When 
we  get  a correct  sense  of  our  stewardship, 
we  will  not  need  to  be  begged  to  give  to 
missions,  for  we  will  be  seeking  the  privilege 
of  giving  for  them,  for  we  will  be  in  love 
with  them,  and,  while  we  may  give  without 


25 


loving,  we  cannot  love  without  giving. 

Many  Christians  put  on  the  light  pedal 
when  the  matter  of  giving  is  mentioned  and 
many  ministers  speak  in  subdued  whispers 
when  money  is  asked  for,  but  preach  with 
clarion  tones  of  faith,  hope,  repentance,  and 
other  Christian  doctrines  and  graces.  Tn 
this  they  are  not  patterning  after  the  Bible, 
which  speaks  more  than  twice  as  often  of 
giving  as  of  any  other  Christian  duty.  We 
should  put  first  things  first.  Nay,  have  we 
any  right  to  reverse  the  importance  of 
things? 

The  Old  Testament  teaches  very  plainly 
the  duty  of  tithing  and  enjoined  it  upon 
the  Levites  as  well  as  upon  the  people.  The 
Jews  also  paid  besides  the  annual  tithe,  two 
other  tithes, — one  for  the  feast  of  the  taber- 
nacles and  applying  only  to  corn,  wine,  oil, 
and  the  increase  of  the  flock;  the  other,  the 
poor-tithe,  which  was  laid  on  the  land  and 
payable  every  third  year,  and  they  were  also 
encouraged  fo  make  free  will  offerings  be- 
yond these  tithes,  which  the  more  spiritually- 
minded  among  them  regularly  did.  The  tithe 
antedates  the  Hebrew  race,  for  we  find  Abra- 
ham paying  tithes  to  Melehizedek  and  we 
know  that  many  pagan  religions  required  it. 
But  there  were  always  Jews  as  well  as  pag- 
ans who  refused  to  do  their  duty  in  respect 
to  giving.  Do  you  wish  to  know  what  God 
considered  such  action?  “Ye  have  robbed 
Me.  But  ye  sav,  Wherein  have  we  robbed 
Thee?  In  tithes  and  offerings.”  (Mai.  3:8.) 
Have  any  of  us  been  robbing  God?  If  so, 
our  condition  is  awful,  for  we  read  in  the 
26 


very  next  verse:  “Ye  are  cursed  with  a 
curse,  for  ye  have  robbed  Me.” 

But  someone  objects  that  the  tithe  was 
done  away  with  in  the  New  Testament. 
There  a new  principle  is  given  us.  But  this 
objection  is  fatal — for  the  objector  will  read- 
ily agree  that  the  principle  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament is  love,  and  surely  a man  will  not  do 
less  for  love  than  the  law  requires.  But  the 
objector  is  mistaken.  Christ  came  not  to 
destroy  the  law,  but  to  fulfill  it.  He  says 
so  Himself.  If  He  had  never  directly  com- 
mended tithe-paying,  we  would  know  that 
He  endorsed  it  from  the  purpose  of  His  com- 
ing. But  He  does  specifically  authorize  it. 
In  His  woes  pronounced  on  the  Scribes  and 
Phraisees,  we  find  His  plain  command:  “Ye 
pay  tithe  of  mint  and  anise  and  cummin,  and 
have  omitted  the  weightier  matters  of  the 
law,  judgment,  mercy  and  faith:  these  ought 
ye  to  have  done,  and  not  to  leave  the  other 
undone.”  (Matt.  23:23.)  The  Pharisees  were 
doing  right  to  pay  tithes  and  were  commend- 
ed in  tithing  even  the  condiments  of  their 
table,  for  mint  and  anise  and  cummin  cor- 
respond to  our  salt  and  pepper  and  mustard, 
but  are  condemned  because  they  thought 
their  Christian  duty  ended  with  paying  the 
tithe.  They  needed  to  live  Christian  Stew- 
ardship and  because  they  lived  it  not,  Christ 
pronounced  His  woe  upon  them.  To  give 
without  a sense  of  Christian  Stewardship  in 
giving,  even  to  the  minutest  fulfillment  of 
the  law  of  tithing,  is  a hollow  mockery  with 
Christ.  Woe  to  that  man  who  does  it! 

But  wherein  does  the  New  Testament 
27 


teaching  fulfill  the  tithing  system  enjoined 
by  the  law?  It  fulfills  it  in  giving  us  a 
system  that  will  make  tithe-paying  easy 
and  that  will  develop  our  spiritual  natures 
constantly.  Here  it  is.  Paul  is  the  author 
of  it.  He  was  on  his  way  to  visit  the 
churches  of  Asia  and  proposed  to  take  an 
offering  for  the  Jerusalem  Church  from  their 
Corinthian  brethren — a foreign  mission  offer- 
ing, this — but  against  his  arrival  sends  the 
Corinthians  instructions  how  the  offerings 
for  the  Lord’s  work  should  be  taken:  “Upon 
the  first  day  of  the  week  let  every  one  of 
you  lay  by  him  in  store,  as  the  Lord  hath 
prospered  him.’’  (1  Cor.  16:2.)  This  would 
keep  the  tithe-paying  from  being  mechanical 
and  cultivate  the  spirit  of  sacrifice  constant- 
ly, which  spirit  is  the  Christ  spirit. 

This  fulfillment  of  the  law  of  giving  laid 
down  in  the  Old  Testament  is  noteworthy  in 
three  particulars.  First,  our  giving  is  to  be 
done  systematically,  regularly.  “Upon  the 
first  day  of  the  week,’’  that  is,  each  Sunday, 
we  are  to  lay  by  in  store.  If  we  have  week- 
ly preaching,  we  should  pay  it  weekly.  If 
we  have  monthly  service,  we  are,  to  pay  then. 
If  we  are  absent  at  a regular  service,  we  are 
to  give  it  the  next  time  we  have  service  or 
attend.  Secondly,  every  one  of  us  is  to  give. 
Father  or  mother  cannot  give  for  son  or 
daughter.  It  is  to  be  individual  giving.  This 
necessitates  that  parents  should  devise  some 
plan  by  which  their  children  earn  the  money 
and  more  than  their  gift,  else  the  third  por- 
tion of  the  plan  cannot  be  fulfilled,  that  nur 
gifts  should  be  proportionate,  “as  God  hath 
2S 


prospered  him.”  That  is  where  the  rub 
comes.  We  would  be  willing  to  give  system- 
atically and  individually,  but  not  proportion- 
ately. Those  who  are  doing  it  are  the  hap- 
iest  Christians  I know.  Wouldn’t  you  like 
to  experience  their  joyf 

But  proportionate  giving  in  the  Scriptural 
sense  has  another  meaning  than  the  mere 
donating  of  a proportional  part,  not  falling 
below  the  tenth  of  our  income  to  the  Lord’s 
work.  It  means  that  we  should  not  be  local 
or  narrow  or  selfish  in  the  directions  we  give 
for  the  application  of  our  gifts.  Christ  said 
that  the  last  six  of  the  ten  commandments 
could  be  briefly  summarized  in  the  injunc- 
tion, ‘‘Thou  slialt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thy- 
self.” This  means  that  we  shall  see  to  it 
that  our  local  church  should  not  have  spent 
on  it  more  than  half  the  money  coming  into 
its  treasury.  Or  stating  the  principle  posi- 
tively, Christians  should  give  to  support  the 
Kingdom  outside  their  local  church  just  as 
much  as  they  give  for  their  local  church. 
This  is  loving  neighbor  as  self,  and  nothing 
less  than  this  will  satisfy  the  demands  of 
the  King  of  all  the  earth. 

But  how  shall  we  provide  for  this  system- 
atic, individual,  proportionate  giving?  As 
with  the  other  planks  in  this  missionary  plat- 
form, by  a campaign  of  education  and  en- 
lightenment, making  use  of  a proper  system 
of  accounting  and  soliciting  and  introducing 
some  such  device  as  the  duplex  or  bipoeket 
envelope,  which  will  make  the  duty  natural 
and  easy  and  so  successful.  For  general  in- 
formation on  this  matter,  write  to  the  Duplex 
29 


Envelope  Company,  Richmond,  Virginia. 
System,  not  spasm,  is  God’s  method.  We 
need  religion  in  business,  business  in  religion. 

As  an  example  of  what  system  rather  than 
spasm,  or  the  practice  of  Scriptural  giving 
rather  than  the  ordinary  slipshod  method  so 
long  prevalent  in  the  financial  administration 
of  the  Kingdom,  I may  humbly  and  grate- 
fully call  your  attention  to  the  good  results 
it  has  yielded  at  Elon.  We  have  175  mem- 
bers, 101  only  of  them  in  reach  of  the 
church,  and  many  of  them  orphan  children. 
Before  we  adopted  the  Duplex  Plan  of  week- 
ly giving  we  could  hardly  have  preaching 
twice  a month.  With  this  system  we  are 
able  to  have  preaching  every  Sunday  in  the 
year,  and  we  will  be  able  to  give  three  times 
as  much  for  missions  as  ever  before,  and  we 
are  all  happy  in  it. 

(D)  A Permanent  Missionary  Committee 

An  adequate  missionary  policy  includes  not 
only  missionary  education,  knowledge  of  the 
duties  of  Christian  Stewardship,  and  prac- 
tice of  the  Scriptural  plan  of  giving,  but  it 
includes  organization  designed  to  supply 
these  desiderata.  It  is  useless  to  suppose 
that  the  pastor  should  do  this  work.  He  can- 
not do  it  and  God  never  intended  that  he 
should.  The  men  and  women  of  the  church 
need  the  opportunity  of  service  which  this 
work  will  give  them,  and  under  their  leader- 
ship it  will  prosper  as  it  never  can  in  the 
pastor’s  already  overburdened  hands.  This 
is  not  to  say  that  the  pastor  should  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  working  out  of  the 
30 


elements  of  this  policy, — his  part  is  large 
and  necessary,  hut  he  should  not  be  held  re- 
sponsible for  its  success.  There  should  be  a 
committee  in  each  Church  made  up  of  repre- 
sentatives from  the  church,  the  Sunday- 
school,  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  the 
Laymen ’s  Missionary  Movement  Committee, 
the  Women’s  Missionary  Society,  the  Ladies’ 
Aid  Society,  and  all  the  other  organizations 
of  the  Church.  This  committee  should  be 
charged  with  the  duty  of  educating  the 
Church  and  its  adherents  in  missions,  ac- 
quainting them  with  the  principles  of  Chris- 
tian Stewardship,  teaching  them  the  obliga- 
tion of  Scriptural  giving,  and  providing  ways 
and  means  by  which  the  proper  fruitage  of 
each  line  of  this  endeavor  should  be  abund- 
antly harvested.  Such  a committee  should 
have  the  pastor  as  one  of  its  members  and 
should  give  coherence  to  the  missionary  ac- 
tivities and  teachings  of  the  Church.  It 
should  plan  its  educational  curriculum  with 
as  great  care  as  a College  faculty  plans  the 
course  of  study  for  the  A.  B.  degree  and 
should  use  the  same  caution  in  undertaking 
to  finance  the  Kingdom  and  provide  its  in- 
come as  the  Board  of  Directors  of  a great 
corporation  in  launching  their  enterprise  of 
whatever  nature. 

There  is  not  time  nor  need  to  go  into  de- 
tailed suggestion  for  such  a committee,  be- 
cause there  is  a wealth  of  literature  treating 
on  the  subject,  which  may  be  had  by  address- 
ing the  Mission  Board,  but  I feel  that  at 
least  one  item  should  be  treated  briefly.  This 
committee  should  see  to  it  that  there  is  an 


31 


every-member  canvass  at  least  once  a year 
and  that  opportunity  is  given  each  to  sub- 
scribe a definite  amount  each  week  for  mis- 
sions, and  then  that  the  money  so  given  be 
used  for  that  exclusive  purpose.  In  collect- 
ing such  pledges,  the  simplest  device  yet 
invented  is  the  duplex  or  bi-pocket  envelope. 
The  standing  committee  of  the  local  Lay- 
men’s Missionary  Movement  organization 
would  be  glad  to  be  this  canvassing  commit- 
tee and  will  do  the  work  well. 

(E)  Intercessory  Prayer 

Do  you  wonder  that  I have  placed  prayer, 
intercessory  prayer,  last  in  the  constituent 
elements  of  an  adequate  missionary  policy  in 
the  Church?  It  is  because  it  is  most  import- 
ant. In  our  Master’s  life  it  held  the  central 
place.  The  men  who  have  been  most  wonder- 
fully useful  in  advancing  the  Kingdom  have 
been  men  of  prayer.  You  cannot  do  more 
than  pray  till  you  have  prayed,  but  after 
you  have  prayed,  you  can  do  more.  The  re- 
quest of  the  missionaries  on  the  foreign  field 
to  the  home  Church  is  ever,  “Brethren,  pray 
for  us.’’  They  know  the  value  of  prayer, 
and  the  beauty  of  it  is  that  in  this  prime 
privilege  of  the  Kingdom  we  can  all  meet  on 
equal  footing,  great  and  small,  rich  and  poor. 
Yes,  we  can  all  pray,  and  our  prayer  will 
be  availing. 

J.  Campbell  White  says:  “Prayer  is  the 
first  and  chief  method  of  solving  the  mission- 
ary problem.  Among  all  the  methods  that 
have  been  devised  none  is  more  practical, 
more  fruitful  than  this.  If  we  could  get  a 
32 


definite  group  of  people  at  home  into  the 
habit  of  supporting  by  prayer  each  mission- 
ary in  the  thiek  of  the  fight,  by  this  simple 
method  alone  the  efficiency  of  the  present 
missionary  force  could  probably  be  doubled 
without  adding  a single  new  missionary.” 
What  a wonderful  opportunity  for  the 
Church  at  home! 

‘‘Prayer  is  the  only  element  which  can 
quicken  information  into  inspiration,  trans- 
mute interest  into  passion,  crystallize  emo- 
tion into  consecration,  and  coin  enthusiasm 
into  dollars  and  lives.  Resolved,  that  we 
seek,”  says  the  National  Laymen’s  Mission- 
ary Movement  Committee,  ‘‘by  every  means 
to  convince  every  man  that,  whatever  may 
be  his  contribution  of  money  or  service,  he 
has  not  exercised  his  highest  influence,  per- 
formed his  whole  duty,  nor  enjoyed  his  high- 
est privilege  until  he  has  made  definite,  be- 
lieving pfayer  for  missions  a part  of  his 
daily  life.” 

Realizing  the  strategic  value  of  the  prayer- 
life  in  generating  missionary  enthusiasm, 
many  communions  have  instituted  prayer 
covenant  bands.  I herewith  give  you  one  of 
these  covenants:  ‘‘Recognizing  that  the 

supreme  need  of  missions  is  prayer,  I purpose 
to  intercede  each  day,  so  far  as  may  be  possi- 
ble, (1)  for  the  peoples  of  the  mission  lands; 
(2)  for  the  missionaries  and  their  native  co- 
workers; (3)  for  those  who  administer  the 
work  at  home;  (4)  for  my  own  and  all  other 
churches,  that  they  may  give  themselves  more 
earnestly  to  the  study  and  support  of  mis- 
sions; and  (5)  for  the  young  people  of  our 
33 


churches,  that  a large  number  may  hear 
the  call  of  God  to  missionary  service.  ” Have 
you,  my  brethren,  made  such  a prayer  cov- 
enant with  the  Lord?  Will  you  not  do  so? 
Let  us  pray. 

Our  Father,  we  thank  Thee  that  through 
prayer  we  become  one  with  Thee  and  one 
with  those  who  are  the  objects  of  our  inter- 
cession. Help  us  to  exercise  this  precious 
privilege  humbly  in  co-operating  with  those 
who  in  foreign  fields  are  breaking  the  bread 
of  life  to  the  hungry  souls  of  heathendom. 
Grant  that  Thy  Church  shall  become  a pray- 
ing Church  and  that  Thy  cause  through  its 
intercession  may  come  upon  a new  day  of 
growth  and  prosperity.  Amen. 


34 


PART  III 


The  Adoption  of  God's  Program 
As  the  Church’s  Policy 
— Its  Fruitage 


The  Duke  of  Wellington  was  once  asked  if 
he  believed  in  foreign  missions.  True  to  his 
military  railing,  his  reply  was  in  the  form 
of  a question,  “What  are  your  marching  or- 
ders?” This  question  goes  to  the  very  core 
of  the  issue — we  are  to  propagate  the  gos- 
pel because  our  Captain  commissioned  us  to 
do  so.  We  have  no  other  alternative,  if 
we  are  not  to  be  considered  rebels.  We  are 
not  to  bother  about  results  either — that  is 
His  concern.  We  are  to  go  forward,  leaving 
results  to  Him.  Yet  we  have  perfect  right 
to  consider  the  blessings  that  will  come  to  us 
through  obeying  His  command,  for  our  Cap- 
tain would  never  send  us  on  a fruitless  cam- 
paign. 

The  cliiefest  blessing  that  will  come  to  us 
is  the  consciousness  that  we  did  our  best. 
Robert  E.  Lee  said  that  duty  is  the  sublimest 
word  in  the  English  language.  It  is  also 
the  finest  element  in  the  Christian  life. 
When  we  do  our  Christian  duty,  the  peace 
35 


that  passeth  all  understanding  illumines  our 
life  and  makes  it  one  glad  song.  Duty  well 
performed  will  give  us  an  abundant  entrance 
into  the  joys  of  our  Lord.  But  what  if  we  do 
not  do  our  duty?  Can  we  expect  salvation, 
when  we  deliberately  refuse  it  to  others? 
Ought  we?  So  that  this  mission  problem  be- 
comes not  simply  a question  of  reaching  the 
non-Christian  world,  but  equally  a question 
of  saving  ourselves. 

The  keenest  observers  of  our  modern  life 
are  unanimous  in  their  fears  that  the  enor- 
mous multiplication  of  wealth  and  of  the 
conveniences  and  luxuries  of  life  will  develop 
selfishness  to  such  an  extent  that  canker  will 
set  in  in  the  people  and  bring  our  civiliza- 
tion to  disaster.  It  has  always  resulted  thus 
in  the  past.  The  only  thing  that  can  save 
our  civilization,  declared  the  late  Prof.  Wil- 
liam James,  is  the  moral  equivalent  of  war. 
That  equivalent  is  found  in  moral  blood-shed 
for  others,  in  the  sacrifice  of  self  for  those 
less  fortunate,  and  the  spirit  of  sacrifice  is 
the  spirit  of  missions. 

The  editor  of  the  London  Quarterly  Kevicw 
admirably  states  the  philosophy  linking 
national  safety  and  national  sacrifice  into  an 
indissoluble  oneness,  when  he  says:  “Where- 
in lies  our  safety?  In  spiritual  magnanimity. 
If  you  want  to  take  care  of  your  empire, 
take  care  of  your  missions.  The  guarantee 
for  your  splendor  is  your  sacrifice.  You  keep 
your  wealth  as  you  give  it  away  in  noble 
causes.  The  tonic  for  luxury  is  the  generos- 
ity that  does  and  dares  for  the  perishing.  If 
you  want  to  keep  your  place  with  the  top- 


most  nations,  you  must  do  it  by  a tremen- 
dous stoop  to  those  who  are  at  the  base.  If 
you  want  to  put  a ring  of  fire  around  the 
grandest  civilization  that  this  world  has  ever 
seen,  put  a belt  of  mission  stations  around 
your  empire,  and  your  empire  will  last  until 
the  millennium.” 

We  see  the  evil  of  great  wealth  without 
great  sacrifice  in  the  ruin  that  comes  to  the 
children  of  very  rich  parents  often.  The 
children  receive  and  do  not  give,  and  so  lose 
their  spiritual  fiber.  It  is  much  the  same  in 
the  Church.  It  would  seem  that  the  Church 
would  never  become  selfish,  but  it  does. 
Whenever  the  Church  has  become  wealthy 
and  has  not  used  that  wealth  in  splendid  sac- 
rifice for  the  poor  and  needy,  its  spiritual 
life  has  suffered  a speedy  and  awful  deple- 
tion. The  Church  was  never  so  rich,  unless 
it  be  today,  as  when  Martin  Luther  led  the 
Reformation  against  her  immoral  and  sinful 
practices.  God  has  given  the  Church  in  our 
day  a disproportionate  part  in  the  enormous 
wealth  of  the  world.  Will  the  Church  rise 
to  her  opportunity1?  Let  her  consider  these 
paradoxical  words,  which  every  one  who  has 
ever  put  them  to  the  test  knows  to  be  abso- 
lutely true:  “There  is  that  scattereth,  and 
increaseth  yet  more;  and  there  is  that  with- 
holdeth  more  than  is  meet,  but  tendetli  to 
poverty.”  And  also  the  command  of  the 
Savior,  with  its  consoling  promise:  “Give, 
and  it  shall  be  given  unto  you;  good  meas- 
ure, pressed  down,  shaken  together,  running 
over,  shall  they  give  unto  your  bosom.” 
Then  let  her  ponder  well  these  trenchant 
37 


words  of  that  Christian  statesman,  John  R. 
Mott:  "The  only  thing  which  will  save  the 
Church  from  the  imminent  perils  of  growing 
luxury  and  materialism  is  the  putting  forth 
of  all  its  powers  on  behalf  of  the  world  with- 
out Christ.  Times  of  material  prosperity 
have  ever  been  times  of  danger  to  Christian- 
ity. The  Church  needs  a supreme  world-pur- 
pose— a gigantic  task,  something  which  will 
call  out  its  energies,  something  which  will 
throw  it  back  upon  God.  This  desideratum 
is  afforded  by  the  present  world-wide  mis- 
sionary opportunity  and  responsibility.” 
May  the  Church  realize  her  responsibility 
and  grasp  her  opportunity!  May  our  Chris- 
tian Church,  may  this  Conference,  do  this! 

The  anti-missionary  Church  is  doomed. 
God  will  not  let  it  live,  becausd  it  is  not 
worthy  to  live.  It  has  denied  its  Master’s 
authority,  deliberately  refused  to  do  His 
will,  and  He  will  not  permit  it  to  prosper. 
Let  me  give  you  some  facts  to  prove  this, 
in  1832  the  Baptists  of  Indiana  separated  on 
mission  and  anti-mission  lines,  each  division 
numbering  about  3,000.  Fifty,  years  later, 
the  anti-mission  Baptists  still  numbered 
about  3,000  while  the  mission  Baptists  had 
increased  to  37,000.  In  1836  the  Baptist 
Association  of  Ohio  divided  along  similar 
lines.  Nineteen  of  the  Churches  of  the  Asso- 
ciation with  a membership  of  742  expelled 
six  Churches  with  441  members  because  they 
had  the  missionary  spirit.  Fifty-two  years 
later  the  nineteen  anti-mission  Churches  had 
decreased  to  five  and  one  has  since  died,  and 
the  742  members  had  decreased  to  151.  But 


3S 


the  six  missionary  Churches  had  increased 
to  63  and  their  441  members  to  7,212.  In 
our  own  State  in  1840  the  Baptists  separated 
along  these  same  lines,  the  missionary  Bap- 
tists numbering  about  24,000  and  the  anti- 
missionary  about  12,000.  The  missionary 
Baptists  today  number  more  than  300,000, 
while  their  anti-missionary  brethren  have 
barely  held  their  own.  These  facts  are  elo- 
quent in  establishing  the  will  of  Christ  con- 
cerning His  Church. 

Shall  the  Churches  of  this  Brotherhood 
continue?  Then  we  must  be  missionary. 
We  must  study  missions  and  practice 
missions.  We  must  inaugurate  an  ade- 
quate missionary  policy  and  see  that  it 
goes.  We  must  imbibe  the  principles  of 
Christian  Stewardship  and  learn  how  to  give 
according  to  the  Scriptural  standard.  And 
when  we  do,  we  will  be  ashamed  as  a Church 
to  undertake  to  raise  less  than  ten  cents  per 
member  for  foreign  missions  and  as  a Con- 
ference to  undertake  to  raise  less  than  five 
cents  per  member  aud  actually  not  to  raise 
that  mere  pittance.  You  say  we  are  not 
growing.  Brethren,  can  we  expect  to  grow? 
Ought  a people  grow  who  will  not  do  their 
duty?  The  verdict  of  history  is  against  it. 
Let  us  learn  its  lesson  and  let  us  on  our 
knees  seek  God’s  will  and  ask  His  strength 
to  do  it. 

But,  says  romeone,  we  are  too  poor;  it  will 
impoverish  the  Church.  If  we  as  a church 
were  to  send  up  to  Conference  as  much  as 
we  spend  on  our  local  expenses,  it  would 
bankrupt  the  church.  It  would  do  just  the 
39 


opposite,  it  would  make  it  rich.  It  would 
result  in  your  spending  still  more  on  your 
local  enterprises.  That  is  God ’s  way.  Every 
Church  that  has  tried  the  Scriptural  plan  of 
giving  has  experienced  a wonderful  growth, 
not  only  in  contributions,  but  also  in  spir- 
itual power.  As  one  enthusiast  puts  it: 
“The  more  we  have  exported,  the  more  we 
have  had  at  home.”  Twenty  Churches  taken 
at  random  in  the  United  States  and  Canada, 
which  for  the  first  time  last  year  instituted 
the  system  of  Scriptural  giving,  paid  more 
than  ever  before  for  local  expenses,  and  yet 
increased  their  gifts  for  foreign  missions 
from  $79,100  to  $214,281,  an  increase  of  $135,- 
181,  or  170  per  cent.  The  most  remarkable 
instance  was  that  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Wilmington,  N.  C.,  which  increas- 
ed its  gift  to  foreign  missions  from  $517  to 
$22,099,  a net  increase  of  $21,592,  or  4,176 
per  cent.,  which  meant  $30.39  per  member. 
These  were  city  Churches. 

Seventeen  country  Churches  selected  at 
random  increased  their  foreign  mission  of- 
fering from  $2,252  to  $15,04*3,  a net  in- 
crease of  $12,791,  or  567  per  cent.,  which 
is  three  and  one-half  times  as  large  as 
the  rate  of  increase  for  large  city  Churches. 
How  was  it  done?  Not  by  magic  or 
automatically.  In  each  instance  there  was 
the  plan,  definite,  thorough,  completely 
thought  out.  And  back  of  the  plan  were 
the  men — consecrated,  earnest,  anxious  to 
serve  the  Lord.  And  back  of  the  men  was 
the  prayer-wrought  purpose  to  do  their  Mas- 
ter’s will  according  to  their  Master’s  stand- 
40 


ard.  Will  you  be  oue  of  the  men  to  make 
these  glorious  accomplishments  of  others  pos- 
sible in  our  own  Brotherhood  ? And  remem- 
ber that  the  best  remedy  for  a sick  Church 
is  a missionary  diet, 
sible  in  our  own  Brotherhood  ? 

Not  only  does  the  Christian  Church  in  tho 
home  land  stand  in  imminent  peril  today  be- 
cause of  great  wealth  without  the  saving 
grace  of  Charity  in  its  use,  but  many  are 
beginning  to  doubt  the  power  of  Christianity 
to  uplift  mankind.  Numberless  associations 
of  various  names  and  types  are  being  organ- 
ized, giving  organic  expression  to  this  doubt. 
The  social  settlement  workers  much  prefer 
that  the  Church  should  let  them  alone,  be- 
lieving that  they  can  do  the  work  of  regen- 
erating and  uplifting  society  better  without 
interference  from  the  Church.  The  laboring 
classes  in  this  country  and  throughout  the 
Christian  world  are  beginning  to  distrust  the 
Church’s  power  to  uplift  and  help  them. 
Where  shall  the  Church  regain  its  ancient 
prestige  best — where  can  it  make  its  best 
apologetic?  Not  in  argument  with  skeptics 
and  doubters  at  home,  but  by  showing  to 
the  world  the  results  of  propagating  the  gos- 
pel in  heathen  lands.  At  home,  influences 
due  to  the  Church  are  readily  by  the  preju- 
diced doubter  assigned  to  other  causes,  but 
in  the  foreign  field  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
And  the  marvelous  instances  of  individual 
and  social  uplift  that  are  constantly  occurr- 
ing in  non-Christian  lands  as  the  sole  result 
of  the  regenerating,  uplifting  power  of  Chris- 
tianity, give  the  Church  at  home  its  best 
41 


answer  to  carpers  and  critics  alike  and  re- 
new the  hope  and  deepen  the  faith  and  inten- 
sify the  love  of  the  membership  for  the 
Church  and  its  enterprises.  The  best  anti- 
dote we  can  give  to  this  age  of  doubt  is  to 
point  them  to  the  marvelous  conquests  and 
victories  for  Christ  on  the  mission  field. 

Even  those  who  are  most  pious  in  their 
devotions  and  most  consecrated  in  their 
lives  have  not  fathomed  the  depths  nor  wit- 
nessed all  the  beauties  of  the  Faith.  The 
bringing  into  the  Church  of  the  nations  out 
of  Christ  will  teach  us  things  about  Chris- 
tianity which  we  do  not  know  and  cannot 
know  till  these  down-trodden,  neglected  races 
have  made  their  contribution  to  its  inter- 
pretation and  its  understanding.  Do  not  mis- 
understand me.  1 have  no  patience  with 
those  misguided  theorists  who  insist  that  the 
world’s  perfect  and  final  religion  will  be 
Christianity  in  the  main  with  a few  truths 
added  from  the  teachings  of  Mohammed, 
Buddha,  Confucius,  and  the  other  non-Chris- 
tian religious  teachers.  That  appeals  to  me 
as  the  veriest  nonsense.  I know  that  Chris- 
tianity is  to  be  the  universal  religion,  be- 
cause our  Master  assumed  it  should  be  when 
He  commissioned  us  to  preach  it  to  every 
creature  and  promised  to  be  with  us  when  we 
did.  There  is  no  doubt  about  that  in  my 
mind.  But  1 do  believe  that  His  religion  will 
not  be  complete  until  all  nations  of  the  earth 
have  made  their  contribution  to  its  inter- 
pretation and  meaning.  We  have  not  known 
the  depth  of  suffering  which  the  Christian 
religion  will  enable  men  to  endure  and  will 
42 


not  till  our  African  brethren  shall  teach  it 
to  us.  The  Hindu  has  yet  to  reveal  to  us 
the  beauty  in  the  meditative  Christianity. 
Korea  has  already  shamed  us  in  her  rare 
willingness  to  give  that  the  Kingdom  may 
grow.  China  and  Japan  and  the  islands  of 
the  sea  have  each  their  lesson  of  faith,  of 
love,  of  sacrifice,  of  hope,  of  confidence  to 
teach  us.  Jt  is  Christ’s  will  for  us  to  know 
the  complete  Christianity,  but  it  cannot  be 
known  till  the  world  is  redeemed. 

Recent  testimony  from  Christian  business 
men  has  tended  to  establish  the  fact  that 
Scriptural  giving  will  lay  the  foundation  for 
a successful  business  career  in  teaching  men 
to  be  systematic  in  handling  their  finances, 
and  laying  by  in  store  for  their  own  business 
success.  The  Jews  have  practiced  tithing 
more  generally  than  any  people  and  they  fur- 
his  fewer  candidates  for  the  almshouse  and 
penitentiary  than  any  other  nation.  I know 
nothing  better  for  a young  business  man  than 
at  the  very  beginning  of  his  career  to  tithe 
his  income  rigidly,  opening  an  account  with 
the  Lord.  If  he  fails,  it  will  greatly  sur- 
prise me.  Sometimes  young  men  begin  life 
in  debt  and  do  not  quite  clearly  see  how 
they  can  give  to  the  Lord’s  work  till  their 
debts  are  paid.  The  weakness  of  this  excuse 
is  that  God  owns  them  and  all  they  have 
and  produce,  not  they  themselves,  and  the 
real  question  for  them  to  answer  is,  How 
dare  1 take  money  belonging  to  my  Lord 
and  pay  my  own  debts  with  it?  It  is  not  a 
question  of  how  much  we  will  give  of  our 
money  to  the  Lord’s  work,  but  how  much 
43 


of  His  money  we  dare  keep  for  our  owu  pur- 
poses. And  certainly  we  ought  to  be  willing 
to  do  our  duty,  when  we  consider  that  in 
doing  so  we  will  be  laying  the  foundation 
for  a crowning  business  success.  It  is  said 
that  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  merchants  of 
our  country  must  eventually  go  into  bank- 
ruptcy and  that  the  majority  of  our  free- 
hold farmers  will  ultimately  lose  their  farms, 
because  they  do  not  know  how  to  system- 
atize their  expenditures.  They  would  know 
how  if  they  would  practice  Scriptural  giving 
and  live  up  to  the  obligations  and  privileges 
of  Christian  Stewardship,  for  God  has  prom- 
ised to  open  the  windows  of  heaven  and  to 
pour  out  upon  all  such  a blessing  so  great 
that  they  cannot  receive  it. 

And  then  the  blessing  that  our  generosity 
will  confer  on  the  heathen  should  be  a source 
of  splendid  encouragement  to  us.  All  who 
have  studied  the  situation  at  first  hand  and 
who  are  able  to  speak  authoritatively  in  re- 
spect to  the  issue  are  unanimous  in  agreeing 
that  this  is  the  strategic  era ' of  Christian 
history  for  the  evangelization  of  the  world. 
Our  business  enterprises  have  encircled  the 
globe  and  carried  to  the  heathen  the  phys- 
ical benefits  of  our  higher  civilization,  for 
Mammon’s  sake.  Shall  the  Christian  ele- 
ment of  our  civilization  be  less  energetic, 
less  alert  for  Jesus’  sake?  Again  and  again 
the  mission  writers  assure  us  that  now  is  the 
decisive  hour.  The  heathen  and  non-Chris- 
tian worlds  are  dissatisfied  with  the  religious 
they  have,  and  the  importance  of  Western 
ideas  in  business  and  commerce,  has  made 
44 


them  so.  The  reunaissance  is  ou  in  every 
one  of  these  lands.  Shall  it  be  “a  rennais- 
sance  without  a reformation  f ” If  so,  the 
latter  condition  of  these  people  will  be  worse 
than  their  former  condition,  and  we  will  be 
to  blame  for  it.  We  must  quicken  their  in- 
dustrial and  intellectual  awakening  with 
the  moral  principles  of  the  Christian  life,  or 
grieve  the  great  heart  of  Christ. 

Time  was  when  results  in  converts  on  the 
mission  field  were  discouraging  even  to  the 
most  zealous,  but  not  so  today.  The  native 
Church  in  foreign  lands  is  growing  much 
more  rapidly  relatively  than  the  Church  at 
home.  The  Protestant  Churches  in  America 
have  an  annual  increase  of  .0283  per  cent, 
while  the  increase  on  the  foreign  field  is 
.0685.  per  cent.,  nearly  three  times  as  great. 
In  the  Presbyterian  Churches  of  America  last 
year,  each  minister  had  to  his  credit  an  ac- 
cession of  ten  communicants.  Of  this  same 
Church,  each  foreign  missionary,  which  in- 
cludes the  wives  of  foreign  missionaries  too, 
had  to  his  credit  thirty-four  converts,  more 
than  three  times  as  many.  The  cost  of  bring- 
ing a heathen  convert  into  the  Church  is 
about  one-ninetieth  as  much  as  that  for 
bringing  in  one  convert  in  the  homeland. 
There  are  more  than  a million  active  mem- 
bers in  the  Church  of  the  foreign  field  and 
there  are  about  two  million  others  who  are 
adherents.  Christians  in  foreign  lands  are 
increasing  relatively  faster  than  the  popu- 
lation— not  so  in  America.  The  last  decade 
in  India  witnessed  a fifty  per  cent,  increase 
in  the  membership  of  the  Church,  as  against 
45 


a two  and  one-half  per  cent,  increase  in  pop- 
ulation. The  gain  in  China  in  the  last  twen- 
ty years,  and  remember  thousands  of  Chris- 
tians were  murdered  during  the  Boxer  Re- 
bellion, has  been  more  than  one  hundred  per- 
cent. There  has  been  a Christian  convert  in 
Korea  for  every  hour  of  the  day  and  night 
since  the  first  missionaries  entered  the  coun- 
try in  1886,  and  annually  now  about  200,000 
Christians  are  received  into  membership  on 
the  foreign  field.  Truly  are  the  fields  ■white 
unto  harvest,  and  just  as  truly  are  we  able 
to  harvest  the  fields.  For  if  every  Christian 
in  America  would  give  two  dollars  a year  to 
foreign  missions,  we  could  completely  man 
the  entire  field  immediately  and  the  evangel- 
ization of  the  world  wrould  be  accomplished 
in  our  day.  Many  churches  now7  exceed  that 
average  per  member,  but  the  general  average 
is  only  about  fifty  cents,  while  nine-tenths 
of  the  membership  of  the  Churches  are  es- 
timated as  having  no  part  in  the  evangeliza- 
tion of  the  w7orld.  What  an  opportunity  we 
have  of  helping  others  and  of  saving  our 
own  souls!  The  door  is  open  and  no  man  can 
close  it,  but  we  can  block  the  wray  by  stand- 
ing in  it.  Let  us  resolve  to  do  our  duty — 
our  full  duty,  in  this  critical  hour,  for  the 
Kingdom. 

There  are  many  other  good  results  attend- 
ant on  missionary  efforts  and  they  are 
worthy  of  careful  consideration,  but  we  have 
not  time  to  treat  them  here,  such  as  the  up- 
lift of  wroinan,  the  relief  of  sickness,  the 
establishment  of  colleges  and  universities, 
the  introduction  of  printing,  the  multiplica- 
46 


tion  of  books,  the  increase  of  commerce,  the 
civilization  of  the  heathen,  any  one  of  which 
would  be  well  worth  special  treatment.  The 
reaction  spiritually  on  the  home  church  has 
been  suggested  again  and  again,  and  would 
certainly  justify  any  expenditure  of  money 
reasonable.  But  perhaps  next  to  the  con- 
sciousness of  having  discharged  our  Chris- 
tian duty,  the  growth  of  Christian  Unity 
directly  attributable  to  missions  is  the  great- 
est blessing  to  the  Church.  We  sometimes 
speak  of  the  Lord’s  prayer  as  Christ’s  prayer. 
That  is  not  Ilis  prayer,  but  His  instruction 
to  us  as  to  what  we  should  pray  for.  His 
prayer  is  recorded  in  John  17,  and  the  re- 
frain that  runs  throughout  its  twenty-six 
verses  is  ‘ ‘ that  they  all  may  be  one.  ’ ’ The 
foreign  field  is  teaching  us  the  necessity  for 
unity  and  the  method  of  it.  Already  in  many 
foreign  lands  the  Christians  are  standing  for 
a united  Church  with  that  name  we  love  so 
well,  Christian.  It  is  significant  that  the 
first  world’s  Convention  of  all  denomina- 
tions should  be  in  the  interest  of  missions. 
“Experience  has  already  shown,”  says  John 
B.  Mott,  “that  by  far  the  most,  hopeful  way 
of  hastening  the  realization  of  true  and  tri- 
umphant Christian  unity  is  through  the  en- 
terprise of  carrying  the  Gospel  to  the  non- 
Christian  world.  Who  can  measure  the  fed- 
erative and  unifying  influence  of  foreign  mis- 
sions? No  problem  less  colossal  and  less 
baffingly  difficult  will  so  reveal  to  the  Chris- 
tians of  today  the  sinfulness  of  their  divis- 
ions, and  so  convince  them  of  the  necessity 
of  consecrated  effort,  as  actually  to  draw 
47 


them  together  in  answer  to  the  intercession 
of  their  common  and  divine  Lord.  It  is  a 
gain  to  the  home  Church,  the  importance  of 
which  cannot  be  exaggerated,  that,  as  a re- 
sult of  its  foreign  mission  work,  there  should 
be  coming  bac-k  to  it  from  lands  not  yet 
Christian  powerful  influences  that  are  help- 
ing to  heal  its  divisions  and  restore  its  brok- 
en unity.  ’ ’ 

The  union  of  all  God’s  people  has  long 
been  a eherished  ideal  of  our  Brotherhood. 
If  we  really  believe  it  as  much  as  we  think 
we  do,  we  will,  from  this  hour  forth,  have 
a larger  interest  in  foreign  missions,  as  the 
best  demonstrated  means  of  ushering  it  in. 
And  can  there  be  a stronger  appeal  to  Chris- 
tian men  and  women  than  this  of  Christian 
unity,  the  one  thing  for  which  our  Master 
prayed,  and  which  we  now  see  can  come 
only  through  carrying  out  His  great  commis- 
sion to  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature f 
Our  Lord’s  own  prayer  for  His  people  and 
His  great  commission  to  them  form  in  them- 
selves a rare  and  beautiful  Christian  unity. 
May  the  Church  of  God  obey  the  great  com- 
mission with  all  their  might  and  may  the 
heart  of  our  Lord  rejoice  when  through  their 
obedience  to  this  great  commission  His  own 
prayer  for  His  people  shall  receive  its  full 
and  perfect  answer! 

Our  Father,  grant,  we  beseech  Thee,  that 
Thy  word  shall  be  preached  to  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth,  as  Thy  dear  Son  did 
command  it  should  be,  and  may  the  Gospel  so 
possess  Thy  people  in  all  lands  that  they 
shall  all  be  one,  even  as  our  Lord  did  pray 
Thee.  Amen. 


48 


